Clothes-pounder.



No. $28,076. Patented July 4, I899. c. w. cnoss.

CLOTHES POUNDER.

(Application filed Mar. 17, 1897.) (No Model.)

WITNESSES 7 [NI/ENTOR I Clarence WCT S,

UNITED STATES CLARENCE W. CROSS,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF GRINNELL, IOWA.

CLOTHES-POUNDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 628,076, dated July 4;,1899.

Application filed March 1'7, 1897. Serial No. 627,917. (No model.)

To all whom, it nutty concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE W. (JRoss, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grinnell, in the county of Poweshiek and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Founders; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My object is to facilitate the labor of washing clothing and otherarticles of textile fabric by pounding and pressing the soiled materialand repeatedly forcing water and air through the meshes.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combinationof parts, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim, andillustrated in the accompanyingdrawin gs, in Which- Figure 1 shows myclothes-pounder detachably connected with a tub, as required forpractical use. Fig. 2 is an outside view, and Fig. 3 an interior View,of my air and water forcing mechanism combined in a case adapted forpounding clothing therewith in a tub.

The letter A designates a sheet-metal case of circular shape incross-section, open at the bottom and tapering to terminate in acontracted top, that is adapted to serve as a bearing for areciprocating handle G of a plunger adapted to force air and waterthrough the meshes of the articles placed in a tub to be washed. 7

F is an open-ended cylinder fixed concen-- trically inside of the case Aby means of flanges fixed to the top and bottom portions of the outsideof the cylinder and the inside of the case to produce an annularair-tight chamber 0 and open spaces above and below the cylinder andwithin the case, as shown in Fig. 3.

Openings 7a in the top portionof the case A admit air, and openings k ina hollow piston g, fitted in the pump-cylinder F, admit air to pass intothe cylinder and piston at each upward motion of the handle G and thehollow piston and down through a spring-actuated valve 0, that normallycloses an opening in the bottom of the piston. The valve is fixed to thelower end of a coiled spring 19, and the top of the spring is fixed tothe inside face of the top of the piston.

L is a lever fulcrumed to a bracket that is connected with the tub, asshown in Fig. 1, for operating my invention when the handle G ispivotally connected with the said lever. It is obvious, however, thatthe pounder and pump can be operated in a tub by simply seizing hold ofthe handle and reciprocating it to pound and press clothing with thebottom of the case A and at the same time operate the piston in thecylinder within the case to force currents of air and water through themeshes of the articles at the same time they are subjected to pressureand submerged with water prepared for detersive action upon the dirt inthe articles placed therein.

h is an extensible Wire spring fixed to the top of the case and coiledaroundthe handle G and fixed thereto at its lower endin such a mannerthat at each downward motion of the handle and piston power will bestored in the spring that will lift the piston in the cylinder when thedownward pressure on the handle is relaxed.

I am aware that cone-shaped washers of the class to which my inventionbelongs have had cylinders fixed in concentric'position and diaphragnisfixed to the bottoms of the cylinders in such a manner as to leave largeopen bottomed chambers under the cylinders that admitted a largequantity of water immediately under the cylinders and did not allow thebottom of the cylinders to contact with and press clothing ascontemplated by my invention, in

which the cylinder is extended down to near the bottom of thecone-shaped case and an annular water-chamber produced between thecylinder and thelower and largest part of the case.

In the practical operation of my invention, the piston being in itsnormal position and filled with air, the spring-actuated valve in thebottom thereof will be closed and the open bottomed cylinder will befilled with air and water, and when the piston is forced down and thebottom of the case and cylinder pressed upon clothing submerged in waterthe air and water int-he cylinder will be forced out and through themeshes 0f the clothing pressed thereby, and in the upward motion of thepiston a vacuum and suction will be produced in the cylinder and drawair through the hollow piston into the cylinder, and repetitions of theoperation will, by means of air and water,

wash textile fabrics advantageously, pressing them with the bottom edgesof the cylinder and the concentric case.

Having thus described the construction, operation, and utility of myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patenttherefor, is

The case A having a contracted top and bearing for a handle and openingto admit air at its top portion, an open-ended cylinder F fixed to theinside of the case by means of annular flanges at its top and bottom andextended to the bottom of the case to produce an annular chamber 0, ahollow piston g fitted in the cylinder and provided with openingsCLARENCE V. CROSS.

Vitnesses:

R. N. KooNs, C. E. WHITED.

